This book examines the emergence and development of the 2009 Green Movement in Iran. The approach emphasizes the context and the local and historical specificities in which mass oppositional movements arise, develop and conduct their operations. Meanwhile, it foregrounds an account of multiple modernities that work to transcend modernist assumptions.

The volume describes and analyzes the power modalities—disciplinary, biopolitical, and sovereign—employed by the Islamic Republic to governmentalize the masses. Bearing a triangular methodology, the book consists of six semi-structured interviews with authorities and activists who participated in the pivotal events of that period; discourse analysis focusing on the Iranian constitution and the relevant government policy documents and speeches; and archival analysis. These provide the historical background, perspectives and insights required to analyze and explicate the conditions responsible for the emergence of the Green Movement and to grasp how collective action was enabled and organized.

Marking a particular historical phase in the development of a home-grown democracy in post-revolutionary Iran, the Green Movement is transforming the country’s political landscape. This book is a key resource to students and scholars interested in comparative politics, Iranian studies and the Middle East.